Check Movie Timings with iPhone

Check Movie Timings with iPhone
Earlier in the month I showed you how to check movie timings at a glance with most mobile devices. Here's an app using a different approach, with a fast and clean user interface, specially built for the iPhone and iPod Touch. I might work with a few other mobile devices too.




Head on over to http://poundbang.in/cinepura/#_home and you'll see the movies showing in Singapore today.


Click on any of the movies and you'll see some information on the movie, where you can watch it, and the showtimes.






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CDC Class 3A Driving Lesson Walkthrough: Lesson 5 and 6

CDC Class 3A Driving Lesson Walkthrough: Lesson 5 and 6
This is part 3 of my driving lesson experience at CDC. You can find part one here. Lessons may vary according to the students' speed of progress.



Lesson 5:
- Lane changing judgements
- Lane changing speed adjustment
- Lane changing procedure
- Negotiating right turns positioning
- Negotiating right turns speed adjustement
- Negotiating right turns procedure

Lesson 6:
- U turns positioning
- U turns speed adjustment
- U turns procedure More>

How to survive BMT

How to survive BMT
This is from military-life.blogspot.com The blog is a good read for anyone wanting to read more about life in the SAF.








Step 1: Keep Fit
The key to surviving your first 3 months is to be physically fit. In the military, you are either combat fit or NOT. Of course, if you have rich pockets or a genuine medical condition, please gt yourself DOWNGRADED to the lowest possible so that you will either go through a modified BMT or lobo your way through BMT.

When you are fit, no matter what physical stuff the instructors throw at you, you can pretend to be huffing and puffing when in fact you are laughing at the absurdity of their punishments or physical training. Fitness will help you survive the more unpleasant things the instructors throw at you e.g. make you do 20 push-ups. make you touch the lampost about 100m away and come back (though I understand such bo-liao punishments are not officially not kosher, but hey, there can be unofficial punishments, right?)

Step 2: Keep a low profile
Either keep a low profile and not volunteer for "assignments" to be IC or the one in charge. When you are IC, if things are done well, your duty instructor gets the credit. When the section/platoon screws up, the IC is blamed as he was not able to "ENSURE" that things are supposed to be done in the way they should. I wonder if our Minister for Home Affairs could have "ENSURED" that Mas Selamat didn't escape cos I don't remember being paid $2-3million SGD a year to "ENSURE" that my platoon or section behaved during BMT.

Step 3: Obey authority
The SAF is full of petty tyrants and jerks. Not all of them are arse-holes but a number are. Obey authority, always say "Yes Sergeant/Instructor/Sir" and only clarify your orders. NEVER QUESTION or TALK BACK to commanders because you are the lowest of low as a recruit unless you are a well-connected WHITE HORSE. If you are WHITE HORSE reading this, then f*** it as you will be reasonably well insulated from the real sh** that gets dished out to the hoi-polloi.
Also, you can technically be charged for not following a law-ful order. It's no fun spending time in detention barracks at Kranji. PSPs and mp3 players are not allowed to detainees as I am told and so far I have not heard of Mas Selamat style escapes yet from DB...

Step 4: Observe safety precautions
The Training Safety Regulations or Rules are there for a reason. To keep you from being blown up by thunderflashes, grenades and being shot by your own friends during range. Be on the ball by listening very carefully to ALL SAFETY BRIEFINGS. Know your Cat 1 for lightning as well as how to apply a first-aid dressing. These are critical. Also be very careful when handling arms and ammunition. The other safety is during Individual physical proficiency tests (IPPT) and Standard Obstacle Course (SOC). Injury rates from such activities were high in my days so TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF and YOUR BUDDIES!

Step 5: Free your mind
Sometimes you will be sh** on by the instructors, superiors and what not in the chain of command. Looking back at my own NSF days as a skinny pipsqueak in Camp III Pulau Tekong under the Infantry Training Depot (ITD), I realised I could have gone through it better by being more relaxed about things. For instance, when you are punished, don't beat yourself up about WHY WHY WHY did corporal/sergeant so and so punish me. Just take it that you may or may not have screwed up, and punishment is part and parcel of the BMT experience. So just accept it on move on. The other issue is about the "unfairness" of treatment, i.e. why are some WHITE HORSES treated better or WHY you are assigned to clean the toilet (oh.. I realised they dun get BMT recruits to do that now, they use foreign workers to clean...), just ACCEPT IT and MOVE ON.

In short, BMT will be nothing like you've ever experienced before. The main thing is to make friends, keep yourself fit and realise how fortunate you are to have enjoyed mummy's cooking until 18/19 years of age. I NEVER complained about my mother's cooking since age 18+ after enlisting as a chow recruit in BMT.
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NSF Pay Scales

NSF Pay Scales
Or rather, your allowance as an NSF. Interested in joining the army as a career? See here instead.







Recruit/Private: $420
Lance-Corporal: $440
Corporal: $490
Specialist Cadet: $510
Corporal First Class: $530
Thrid Sergeant: $630
Officer Cadet Trainee:$700
Second Lieutenant: $940
Lieutenant: $1120
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Bus and MRT Guide in your iPhone

Bus and MRT Guide in your iPhone
If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch, and you don’t have this already. GET IT. It’s free and it’s aided me in traveling around Singapore more than I can count.





Short Story:
It’s the Singapore Bus Guide all loaded onto your device, with search functions.

Long Story:
It will help you get around Singapore in so many ways, and save so much time. Here are my favorite features:

1. Search through a bus list.


2. See bus details (like first and last bus).


3. See bus route. Inlcudes bus stop numbers, which can be used in conjunction with IRIS.


4. See bus stop details.


5. Search locations.


6. Check the MRT map.


7. Check MRT travel times.


You can even save your favorite bus stops.
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Salaries of an SAF Regular

Salaries of an SAF Regular
Psychoed during NS to sign up? Considering a career with the SAF? Here, check out their pay scales.


For Officers:


For Specialists.

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MLM Tactics

MLM Tactics
Here's something a little different. I'm pulling off the information from a thread post on hardwarezone. Read up to gain some awareness on some of the tactics these companies use.

If you don't already know, MLM, or Multi-level marketing is described by wikipedia as such:

Multi-level marketing (MLM), is a form of Network Marketing (however the terms are often used interchangeably). It is a marketing strategy that compensates promoters of direct selling companies not only for product sales they personally generate, but also for the sales of others they introduced to the company. The products and company are usually marketed directly to consumers and potential business partners by means of relationship referrals and word of mouth marketing.

In some cases, these can be pretty legit companies, but most of the time in Singapore, these resemble pyramid schemes more than anything.

This is why they don't work:

Even if the top people make 50k a month. How much do you, 5, 6, or even up to 10 levels down think you'll make? I leave you to do the math.

Things to be aware of: No. 1
One of the most notorious of such organisations is Enyouth.
From the post:
"Enyouth is at 36 Carpenter Street (behind Boat Quay), in a small shophouse located above a cafe. Chinese name is Li Xin, it is formerly known as Astral Mag.

The tall beige coloured building:"


Things to be aware of: No. 2
They will seldom admit to be an MLM organisation. More likely they claim to be "SLM", Single Level Marketing. Or they say "start your own business".

Things to be aware of: No. 3
They will befriend you through various means, but whichever the means, they will start to question you on some main points:
"What are your interests"
"What are your ambitions"
"Are you interested to have your own business?"

As the poster describes:
"This is called fake friendship. Some people go to great lengths to act out friendship to drag people into MLMing. It's like a drama serial, all planned out.

Then one fine day they'll give an excuse to ask you out. This can be extremely creative. From asking you out to dinner, lunch to movies, asking you to help them do some stuff, give something to them, matchmaking, etc.

Usually it would be at an eating place, or someplace where you can gather. Most probably somewhere near the company's office. One favourite haunt is Lau Pa Sat.

Then here, the fake friendliness gets really scary. It seems everyone there knows you for a million years and starts talking to you like an old friened. But take note there would almost always have this one person chatting to you. He'll be the most friendly, acting concerned, etc. Beware, this guy/girl might be your future upline if you join. This is called building relationship is sales."

Things to be aware of: No. 4
They don't want to answer your questions directly
When they want to bring you to their office to preach to you, questions as to where you and your "friends" are headed are met with:
"Why do you ask so much"
"It's very hard to explain"
"You'll know when you reach there"
"It's fun, its interesting"

Things to be aware of: No. 5
They'll start telling you how great their company/their boss/themselves are. They'll talk to you about big offices, show you flashy jewelery and drive big cars, telling you how you can own one just like they do.

Most likely the cars are borrowed from the big boss. All "examples" of other people in the company who "made it" and bought cars and all that, probably faked too.

Things to be aware of: No. 6
If you haven't been convinced yet, they start questioning you.

Question your future.
They would question your future, your ambitions, etc.

Insult your future.
They would say how bad your future is, there's no future in your field, etc. Your job no hope, cannot earn anything, won't be successful.

Give you a "Reality check".
They would say how cost of living is increasing, how news say your field has no hope, etc. Stating some "examples". Say what power tariffs increasing, petrol price increasing, etc. Say you job would not be able to make the money to cover it.

Tell you your "Way out"
They try to "console" you, there is a way out. This is called, enforcing relationships. Like a knight helping a damsel in distress. They would hope that you would "thank" them for it.

Give "examples"
They tell you stories of people who "made it".
a) Earn more than uni grad
b) "Look at him, he's (insert age here), so young, driving car liao"
c) Say can earn few thousands a month. Shows the top earners in suits, looking confident, how much they had earned, a few 10Ks.
d) Say how MLM had "changed their lives" and "made them a better person"

Things to be aware of: No. 7
If you STILL haven't been convinced yet, they start getting pushy. Here's where they bring in their senior, or "manager", or whoever else. And he repeats the whole thing again, hoping to push you into submission. Best targets are people too courteous to just stand up and leave.

Things to be aware of: No. 8
A quick summary of often repeated lines:
1)Retire early
2)Why work for 40 years retire for 20 when you can work for 20 years retire for 40.
3)Earn more than uni grad
4)I'm going to be rich
5)In this world now where got interest-based jobs.
6)MLM is the future of sales
7)MLM is the only way to success
8)Start your own business
9)If it doesnt work why are there still many people inside?
10) Mr X joined us xxx months ago and now earns xxxx figure income
11) Coward dont dare try new things.
12) Your job cannot make it one lah
13) Work for yourself, dun work for others

Finally, here are some posts from some other forums sharing personal experiences:

I'd just encountered a bad dinner experience at Clarke Quay yesterday. This was how the experience started.

1 month ago, while I was shopping at Suntec City, surprisingly there was a pretty girl who tapped my shoulder from my back asking me for age,job, & handphone number. Initially Ithought it was a survey, then she told me she & her friends were playing games "Collecting the most handphone numbers". Without much thinking, I gave her the number.

About 2 weeks later, I received an friendship SMS from an unknown number. Not sure who was it. Later the other party acknowleged she was the girl from Suntec.

She would start asking things like:

"What are you doing?"

"What is your qualification and age?"

"Wanna meet up for some coffee or dinner?"

"Will confirm with u the place again"

Initially, I thought it was just purely making new friends, that why's I agreed to lunch with her. However she was very very late in our meet up at Clarke Quay MRT station. Suppose to meet 12pm and she came at 12.45pm, telling you I got to go off at 1.30pm. (Very very angry)

The most weird part of the lunch is she doesn't talk much about herself, and will ask you lots of questions. I was like thinking maybe is first time lunch, maybe a bit awkward.

The 2nd meetup again was at Clarke Quay again. That's strange. She ask me to look for her at a coffeeshop across the traffic lights. During our conversation, when I ask where are we going after dinner, she seems like dun wan to talk much, trying to avoid, saying later will introduce her friends to me. The "scary process" starts to come in. Her friends starts talking abt big job, cars, house, earn lots $$$. She also brought me to office for some talk by managers. Start to feel weird why the company is within the shop house. After that I asked again where to go later, she would start to recommend her friend again. I knew something fishy and I spotted application form on the table. Her friend would be talking abt "magnetic fields", health, bed etc.

This was when my so called "friend" shows off her true colour. I said need to consider first before signing up, she seems like very impatient, saying "I dun understand what you thinking. I started to get irritated by her tone of voice. I'd show a black face and juz say a bye not to her but her friend.

Reason: I felt like this is a form of deception.

Sigh....Hope I dun see her again. I just felt that she is so young & pretty in her early 20s, going ard lying to people. Just feel wasted for her.

In future will not go to Clarke Quay

hmm. this happened a long time ago. i was walking around in taka when this young lady approached me like trying to chat with me like tat. never suspect anything cos she seemed genuinely nice.

long story short after some phone calls and quite fun conversation, i ended up at her office. Then she finally showed her true color and tried to brainwash me to join her company. keep saying is not mlm, but nearly lol-ed out loud when she started drawing this pyramid... i dunno how to reject her so i keep insulting her product, saying the packaging is the ugliest ever seen and i would be seen dead trying to sell them. ended up the whole time was spent on arguing abt product packaging. Think her manual never teach her how to react to this so she end up becoming very agitated. or maybe cos she no time to talk abt how rich mlm is going to make me.

anyway, did lied to her abt having to meet someone, say will contact her if interested. after that i just delete and block her phone call... but it's a real pity... if only she is not one of them... sigh

same thing.

some month back also got ger approach me. but she not even pretty. nvm give her chance. i ask her fore-front if she's trying to sell insurance or anything. she say no so fine.

met up, had lunch at the coffee shop near the road also. made the mistake of asking abt her watch cos it can play video. end up kenna dragged to the office showcase. agar know wad is gonna happen liao. out of courtesy just listen and look look at the product while saying not interested. she still wanna continue, somemore wanna go the the next floor to meet her colleagues. but while she went into the office to look for her 'colleagues' i just took the lift down and kup all her calls.

she still got the cheek to sms me 'just leave without saying goodbye very rude hor"

and i recently notice tht the fisherman wharf restaurant also under enyouth. no wonder seem so empty

basically what you guys read about enyouth already...my experience is more or less the same.. still feeling very very angry, and betrayed..

to cut the long story short.. been tricked by a former friend to come down to that enyouth *coffeeshop*.. you know like long time never see den come meet up.. then i kena psycho for few hrs straight.. like they dun let mi go until i sign the some "smart buyer" contract.. now i feel pissed and so dumb for signing that ****.. but at least i didn't pay that 50++ dollars.. they keep on telling me nvrmind no need to pay first.. f* pressure and coerce la..

for you guys never get this exp before.. lucky you, it was really the crappiest experience, that your friend can lie, cheat you like this..

how now? not that i scared kena harassed by them now.. but am i legally binded or anything to them(for anyone who has seen the paper before)? the contract didn't say anything about paying- just that they can "kick me out" for inactivity.. yea like i bloody want to be in it.. i just wanted to go home..

after i read about all other ppl's exp with this ****, i am so pissed off with myself.. but more with my so-called friend.. how could he do this to me?? like he kena brain-washed.. now I am just going to ignore the crap out of them..

anybody else recently got this kind of ****? seems to be getting more and more common... yarrrrrrrrrrgh still so pissed..!

At that time I was looking for a part time job during my vacation and she called me up saying that her company has got alot of different jobs, from sales to admin.

When I asked for more details about the company, she refused to say and asked me to come down 1st then say lor. At that time, already smell a rat..but i nothing much to do at home also..just go down see see look look lor.

After I reached their Clarke Quay office and saw Enyouth..i sian already. But just listen n see wad **** she wanna tell me lor. She started telling me how good their CEO is..giving cars away to employees and such. After that, she criticised and say with my engineering degree, I wont get a very good future. I was amused rather than offended la.

So i told her, "I believe from ur interaction with me, u can see that I'm not the ordinary engineer you find on the street.". Den she agreed..and den I just fugged off from that place already. But i was quite du lan she tricked me down to the office la.

More>

Find out when your bus is arriving

Find out when your bus is arriving
If want to know when the bus is coming, all you need is the bus stop number and IRIS, SBS Transit’s Intelligent Route Information System.









Short Story:
visit www.sbstransit.com.sg/iris3/nextbus.aspx
or
visit www.sbstransit.com.sg/mobileiris on your phone
or
SMS (Bus Stop Number) space (Service Number) to 74744

Long Story:
You can get the bus stop number by looking at the sign here


Or checking the bus guide or a service like SGtransport. The internet versions of IRIS also provides a crude way of finding the bus stop without the number.

Once you have the bus stop details, you have 3 options.

1. You’re at home
Visit www.sbstransit.com.sg/iris3/nextbus.aspx
This site will give the most control and options for finding out the next bus timing.


2. You’re outside and you have a smartphone
Visit www.sbstransit.com.sg/mobileiris on your smartphone. Take note this will incur some data charges if you do not have a data plan.






3. You’re outside and you can’t or don’t want to use the internet.
SMS (Bus Stop Number) space (Service Number) to 74744. You’ll be charged $0.05 for this.
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Twitter Account

Twitter Account
360sg now has a twitter account. Get the link on the sidebar on the left.
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CDC Class 3A Driving Lesson Walkthrough: Lesson 3 and 4

CDC Class 3A Driving Lesson Walkthrough: Lesson 3 and 4
This is part 2 of my driving lesson experience at CDC. You can find part one here. Lessons may vary according to the students' speed of progress.






Lesson 3:
- Pre-driving checks
- Knowing the parts of the engine compartment
- Lane discipline
- Regulating speeds according to road conditions
- Safe following distance

Lesson 4:
- Blindspots, how to check and when to check
- Stopping and moving off from the kerb
- Following traffic rules. Signs, intersections, yellow boxes, etc
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Blackberry Bold as Modem

Blackberry Bold as Modem
Here's a quick guide to using your Blackberry Bold, tethered as a modem. It should work with the other newer Blackberrys as well.



This guide is written with screenshots from Windows XP with some domain changes. Look for the similar places on your operating system to change the settings.

Step 1: Connect your Blackberry to your computer. Make sure to turn on the Device Manager.

This is the driver that will tell your computer what to expect from your blackberry.

Step 2: Go to the Control Panel


Step 3: Doubleclick on phone and modem options


Step 4: Select "Standard Modem". This is your Blackberry


Step 5: Click on Properties. Enter the details as shown.

For Starhub replace "internet" with "shwapint".
For M1 replace "internet" with "mobilenet"
If you guessed this is the APN, your guess is the same as mine.

Step 6: Go to your connections. Doubleclick on the Dial-up connection that has been created. I renamed mine as "Singtel"


Step 7: Enter the following:
User name: 65_________ <-Your mobile number. For example, 6591234567
Password: user123
Dial: *99#

Now click on the "Dial" button

Your computer will dial up a connection through your Blackberry as a modem


When that screen disappears, you should be connected. I get a popup bubble announcement on the bottom right hand of my screen telling me my connected speed when this happens.
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Which Mobile Data Plan to Get

Which Mobile Data Plan to Get
Whichever telco you're subscribing to, an often asked question is to what data plan to get, is 3GB enough, do I really need 30GB, and the like.









Short Story


Long Story
Let's do some quick calculations. I'll use the general data guideline found by using this data calculation site:
https://ben.cheetham.me.uk/resources/net/data-usage-calculator

In General, 1 email is about 25kb. Sometimes, if you open the attachments, they could be more. But assuming just text emails, and exaggerating the data a bit, let's take email to be 100kb each. And lets say you're a super heavy email user, sending and receiving 50 such emails a day.

50 emails/day = 1500 emails/month = 150mb of data

>>A heavy user with lots of attachments will have to judge based on his attachments. But it's going to be hard to use more than say, 500mb of data a month.

Now lets talk about surfing. According to the calculator, we use about 10mb of data on average for an hour of surfing. For a person who only surfs using his mobile phone, let's estimate usage to be 2 hours a day.

2hrs/day = 60hrs/month = 600mb of data

>>Still with me?

Ok it's not unusual for a mobile user to watch videos on youtube or other streaming videos. Here's where data starts to get a little heavy. The calculator estimates an hour of video to be about 100mb. Maybe I catch an hour of my favourite shows everyday, that takes:

1hr/day = 30hr/month = 3GB of data

>>What a jump from just surfing + emails!

How about for people like me who tether their mobile phones to their laptops, using them as modems? My laptop is online 8 hours a day, surfing, sending emails, downloading various things, and maybe watching some youtube videos. But of course, I'm not furiously clicking through sites for 8 hours. I have to do work too, and go for my lunch break. Let's take it as 3 hours a day.

3hrs surfing/day = 90hrs/month = 9GB of data
50 emails/day = 1500 emails/month = 150mb of data
1hr youtube/day = 30hr/month = 3GB of data
Total: About 10GB++

>>The hybrid nature of laptop data usage can really cause big differences. You'll really have to estimate for yourself how much you use.

Oh, how about gamers, people who don't have to work/live on the internet, or people who just sit around watching videos all day? Gaming is about 100mb an hour, similar to streaming videos.

8hrs surfing/day = 240hrs/month = 2.4GB of data

or

8hrs gaming/day = 240hrs/month = 24GB of data

or

8hrs video/day = 240hrs/month = 24GB of data

Hey that works out to close 30GB a month. Singtel hits the nail right on the head. Maybe a little too close for comfort.


Starhub and M1 provide unlimited data, which might be more comforting, but if you have read this guide and know your usage, you can better pick the plan that suits you.

Starhub:


M1:


These plans are as of today (12th June 2009) and are subject to change, and subject to offers during special periods.

More>

Set up a Paypal account

Set up a Paypal account
Paypal is a great way to move money around in the internet universe. But for first timers, stepping into the world of online shopping can be a daunting task. This walkthrough will give you a preview of what to expect.







Ok so you've clicked Sign Up. You're now faced with 3 choices. In general, Premier is a good plan. It's free, just like Personal, but you have a couple more options. Read through their FAQ if you want to know the further details.


After you've chosen your plan, just enter your information


And click agree


You're now faced with 2 options, to enter your credit card details, or do a bank transfer. I recommend setting both up, so in the future all your transactions will be automatic.


Here's the credit card details screen:


And here's the bank details screen:


Or you can skip straight to check out your account first. In your account screen, you'll see that your status is Unverified. You'll need to check your email and click on the link provided in it to verify your account.



Once that's done, you'll come to this screen. Go ahead and activate your account.


You'll need to enter your password. And your account's all set up. Let's take a look at Paypal in action.


Here I am at singaporetests.com ready to buy an e-book. I click on the Paypal proceed to pay button.


And am presented with this screen. I just key in my password and log in.


Paypal asks me to review my payment. I see that everything is in order and click Pay Now. Since my credit card details have already been entered, Paypal just deducts from that accordingly.


Paypal lets me know my payment has been done, and I'm redirected back to singaporetests.com. Paypal also sends me and email with a reciept of purchase.


And that's it. If you're a merchant looking to start an online shop, Paypal also offers you a great way to charge your customers. Go check it out.
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